


Loop

by Romiress



Category: Batman (Comics), Mother Panic (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Or something of that nature, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 11:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20096878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Romiress/pseuds/Romiress
Summary: Jason has mixed feelings about graveyards.---Written for the Jay x Jay challenge on Tumblr.





	Loop

Jason rarely has need for graveyards. He's not that kind of person, not the sort who'd linger over the graves of the dead.

He makes his feelings for them known in  _ action _ as he does what he can to dig Gotham out of the hole it's in.

So it goes without saying that he doesn't have any particular superstitions surrounding graveyards. They're just places with bodies in them. Not even bodies lying around: Bodies in the  _ ground, _ out of sight. If anything, he likes graveyards more than the rest of the city, because people tend not to bother anyone else who happens to be in a graveyard on the assumption that they're mourning.

He's in the process of cutting through one graveyard late one night when he runs into something... bad. Maybe not  _ Gotham _ bad, but the sort of thing that would cause serious alarm in any other city.

Someone's dug up a grave.

They've done a shitty job of it, because the opening isn't very large, and Jason's first thought is that it might be an animal. Only the entire graveyard's fenced in, and the hole looks deep enough it'd have to be a  _ big _ animal to get down that far and that wide.

He reminds himself, not for the first time, that it is not his business. He has bigger things to worry about than a bit of grave robbing.

He's made it ten feet before he finds a body. They're small, and the only reason he knows they're not dead is because they appear to be shivering quite violently in the cold night. They're in what Jason would describe as their  _ Sunday best, _ and when his eyes drag back along the trail behind the body...

Alright. Grave robbing might not be his business, but someone digging their way out of a grave is  _ absolutely _ his.

"Kid," Jason says carefully as he squats down beside the small body. "You still with me?"

The kid's mouth opens and closes, but he can't manage more than a few weak sounds. He's got dark, messy hair and pale skin, and when Jason reaches down to touch him he finds it clammy.

His hands are a mess, bloody and broken, and Jason feels a pang of sympathy.

He knows how it feels. He doesn't understand  _ how _ (and he's not sure he's ever going to understand the how), but he knows what it's like to crawl out of your own grave, miserable and alone.

He also knows how important it is to  _ stop _ being alone. He remembers someone finding him in the hours after he emerged, and remembers that feeling. The feeling of being held. Of someone taking care of him. Even if he can barely remember the days after his revival, he still remembers  _ that. _

Jason goes still and turns towards the grave. Even in the dim light, he knows the headstone. He knows the statue there. He knows the engraving.

It's  _ his _ grave, which means the young boy in front of him is  _ him. _

Maybe it's a stretch, but the sense of familiarity is clear enough to him that he acts almost entirely on instinct, bending down to scoop the boy up. He's barely conscious, and Jason knows enough to know he's not going to remember much of what happens. He'll remember only the broad strokes: A tall older man who feels familiar nursing him back to health.

In a week, when the boy's more aware, he'll be gone, but he'll be healthy enough to manage on his own.

Jason doesn't ask himself why. The world's strange enough as is. Instead, he lets himself carry the boy away from their grave, taking him back home like he needs to.

It's all happened before, but he's still happy to do it.


End file.
